Mobile phones have become ubiquitous devices all over the world. With the availability of fast data networks like GPRS and 3G, it is now possible to extend internet services to the consumer on the mobile phone. However, the limited input and display capabilities and limited resources of mobile devices means the layout and input mechanisms of typical websites are unsuitable.
On the internet, search is one of the most popular applications. People use search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN by visiting their websites and entering a search term. Consumers can currently use their mobile phones to access these very search engines. However, they are made available in a modified format optimized for mobile devices. One protocol used for internet access by mobile devices is the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). For example, on the mobile phone wap.google.com delivers services that are similar to http://www.google.com.
In addition to input and display issues, WAP based systems introduce considerable latency in requiring the user to launch a special application, navigate to the URL of the search engine (for example: wap.google.com) and enter his term. There is a significant delay associated in each of these actions. In particular, the latency of GPRS and 3G networks is much higher than what people are used to on the desktop internet. While GPRS/3G networks have significant bandwidth, initial connection setup and latency can be as high as 500 ms-2 s.
Alternative mechanisms exist for obtaining search results on a mobile phone. One such mechanism includes sending a SMS text message in a predefined format to a known number (short code) with a search term. The search is performed remotely and the results are then sent back to the consumer as an SMS message. Not only are such systems limited in functionality and unintuitive, there is no way of refining searches. Additionally, images and sound cannot be delivered due to limitations in the SMS format.
In both cases, due to limited space on the mobile phone screen, it is difficult to display sponsored links which generate revenue for the search engine.
The most commonly used applications on the mobile phone are voice calls and text messaging. Despite the availability of 3G and GPRS, most consumers do not significantly use any of the new data services offered by network service providers. A major reason for this is the latency and user-unfriendliness of these services.